Dr. Howard Katz publishes two papers on polymer based conductors

September 13, 2017

In a recently published paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Professor Howard Katz details research showcasing a polymer-dopant combination that resulted in a large number of charges per unit volume of the polymer, and a high mobility for the charges, thus leading to the potential development of a polymer with a high conductivity.

With a variety of experiments to test the polymer structure and conductivity of several conductive polymers, the team concludes that with structural modifications the PQT12-type polymer backbone can support high electrical conductivity. These findings can be transferred into the development of highly conductive films that can be used in flexible displays.

The paper shows that NO2 can increase the electrical conductivity of the same type of polymers (PQT12 and PQTS12). The two polymers were able to act as sensing materials for room temperature NO2 detection. These two polymers are also able to distinguish whether the detection is due to extended exposure time, or high concentration of the gas.